She turned over, but the air was just as hot. The timer said only ten minutes had elapsed. The suffocating room and her worrisome thoughts had her bolting up and grabbing for the door.
In the round foyer, the eucalyptus scent was welcome, cool, the smell of renewal and a distant San Francisco spring. She pulled the refreshing air into her lungs and leaned against the damp arabesque tile.
In an adjoining chamber, Alec sat on a bench, his legs wide apart and his bare feet solidly on the ground. His head rested in his large hands, and his dark hair pushed through his fingers. The muscles of his back flexed over his rib bones as he breathed. She had never seen him so still. He seemed troubled, probably wrestling with some mega-casino problem.
As if sensing her, he lifted his head and stood. He opened the door and came to her. “Too much heat for you?”
“Yes.”
“Then it is time for the rain shower and massages.” Alec stepped into a narrow alcove, and she followed. The sound of cascading rain and the occasional macaw monkey serenaded them when he flipped a lever. Cool water poured from the ceiling, sending a waterfall flowing down his face and back. His cheekbones and slightly crooked nose stood out under the rush of water. When he opened his eyes, he looked at her directly, with a gaze that was both curious and patient, a seductive combination that made Lucy want to stand closer and lean in.
Alec reached for her and pulled her under the shower with him.
The cold water hit her skin, making it tingle. “Oh!” She sprung from one foot to the other.
Alec laughed, and the sound had a careful tenor to it that plucked a too taut chord in her heart. He ran his hands over her breasts and under her hair. “Nothing happens here that you don’t want.” Lucy nodded, even as sensitive nerves stood on end and demanded more of his touch. He flipped another switch and the waterfall changed to a shower head pulsing warm water.
He put the nozzle between her shoulder blades, massaging her back, sending delicious currents through her body. “How’s that?” He moved the current down her backside, over the large muscles in her rear.
“Lovely.” Lucy moaned with pleasure. Why had she said she didn’t want this with him?
Was she crazy?
She should do this, grab the once in a lifetime chance at a gold ring held by a gorgeous man, prove the gypsy woman right—she would have passion in her life.
“I want to touch you.” Alec brought the shower nozzle to her inner thigh and put a wide hand at her back, gently caging her. “Is that okay?”
“Yes.” The words left Lucy’s lips, and she knew in her heart they were true. Her body ached for what came next with him. Lucy reached back to hold his forearm in place. “Please.”
Alec flipped her in his arms so that her butt was pushed to his groin. He slid his hand inside the front of her bathing suit bottom and nibbled at her neck while his wet fingers circled her nub. Her stomach muscles tightened, and a low pulsing began between her legs. He rubbed with sure strokes and then moved the shower head over her.
“Ahh.” Sensation spiraled, and Lucy felt her knees go weak, but Alec anchored her to his chest. Methodically, he worked the nozzle, away and close, away and close, until Lucy grabbed his arm and held him still while her release shook through her limbs.
“Oh, God.” She clutched at his supporting arms and squeezed her eyes shut.
Alec dropped the shower handle and turned her in his arms. He braced her against the wall and lifted her so that her legs spread around him. He was hard and ready, but instead of seeking his own satisfaction, he kissed her gently on the lips.
“You are mine. Only what you want. Only what you are ready for.” Alec seemed to be talking to himself.
From her fog of pleasure, Lucy opened her eyes to see his blue ones inches from her own.
“Remember that,” Alec said, his voice too tight and serious for her lax mind.
“What?” Lucy blinked owlishly at him.
Alec grinned, all sexy playfulness again. “Everything really is better with me.”
Chapter Eight
Stretched out on a massage table in the atrium, Alec watched the masseuse work out muscle kinks on Lucy’s back.
“Sooo relaxed.” Lucy lay on her stomach under her white massage sheet. “You win.” She smiled at him and closed her eyes. “Twist my arm. I’ll just have to go to dinner with you now.” Her breathing became shallow and regular and she dozed.
It was a good start. He understood, even if Lucy did not yet, the level of trust she placed in him to relax like this in his presence. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on keeping his dragon under his human skin. He wanted Lucy with a desire that bordered on madness.
It had taken all his control to not take her in the shower, claim her as his. But they had some hard truths that needed to be spoken first—like why she had stolen his keycard for her brother—and the small fact that he was a dragon.
Alec shifted on the table.
“Too much?” Lilly Belle, kneading his calf muscle, misinterpreted his restlessness as discomfort.
“No, it is fine.”
It rankled that Lucy worked against him, that her loyalties to her guttersnipe brother were so great that she would deceive him. Would she be able to leave her brother behind to join him among the dragons? Alec thought back to the conversation he had witnessed between the siblings in Lucy’s kitchen. Lucy seemed a different person around her brother. The brother would be a problem, one way or another.
A knock sounded at the glass atrium door. Leo stood in the hallway, waiting to talk to him in person. He’d had enough massaging for the day anyway.
“That will be all for now,” he said to the masseuse. He wrapped the sheet around him before leaving the spa.
“A word, Alec.” Leo moved a short distance away and leaned against the corridor wall, lifting his knee so that the sole of his cowboy boot rested against the Venetian plaster.
Alec was not fooled by his casual posture. “What’s so important that you pull me away from my mate?” He couldn’t help the broad smile that stretched his mouth. To find one’s mate, it was the work of a lifetime for a dragon.
Leo gaped at him and pushed away from the wall. “Your mate? But, she is a human, and she stole your keycard.”
“Yes, I am aware of that.” Alec gave a what-else-you-got shrug.
“Does she wear your dragon mark?”
“Not yet.” Alec ground his teeth. He peered through the glass door into the atrium as Rosa kneaded her fingers down Lucy’s calf. “It has only been one day.”
“A dragon female would have shown your mark immediately.”
Alec crossed his arms and let dragon fire flicker in his eyes. “She is my mate.”
“You can’t have a human for a mate.” Leo pointed at the atrium but kept his voice low. “All the families who have sworn their loyalty to you will back out. It’s bloody bullshit.” Leo was an Aussie, and when he was upset his words always were very bloody.
“I can and I do, and I think it’s pretty damn miraculous. I’ll take my mate wherever I can find her—and so would you.” Alec spoke the truth, and they both knew it. Leo’s dragon form may not be at stake yet, but it most assuredly would be in a few years.
Leo grimaced at the reminder. “This could ruin everything we have worked to build. A human as your mate will bring your throne into question again. This must be why Ambrogino is back.”
“How would he know? I’ve only just discovered her myself.”
“He has his ways.”
“Are you suggesting I turn away from her, deny her?” Alec asked. “Leo, I can’t wait much longer, my form is fading.” It was an uncomfortable admission, even to his best and most trusted friend.
Leo didn’t look surprised. “I don’t know what I’m bloody suggesting.” He shook his head. “Her life will be in jeopardy.”
“I know. I will keep the fact that she is my mate a secret until the ceremony.”
“She’ll still need protection.” Leo
said. “You’ll not be able to babysit her every moment.”
“Agreed.” Alec let the babysitting jab go. “Who do you recommend?”
“I don’t think Jane will do it.” Leo glanced at him sideways. “She had hoped the Fates would favor her for you.”
Alec regretted he’d caused Jane pain, but female dragons did not face the dire situation the males did. They would only weaken over time if they did not find a mate, not lose their dragon forms altogether. “It was not of my choosing, but I don’t regret it, either.”
“Yet.”
“It is done.” This time, Alec let his displeasure show on his face. “Who do you suggest to guard Lucy?”
“Lilly Belle would be a good choice. She is an ice dragon of Tyren’s fold.” Alec and Leo watched Lilly Belle through the glass door. She stood at ease but clearly alert. “She could take on two, maybe three dragons, and still win.”
Alec nodded. “I’ll talk to her. Is there anything else?”
“Security is holding a woman, a waitress from the Crazy Stallion bingo club downtown. She wants to talk to you, says she knows something about the missing keycard.” Leo’s quick recitation told Alec that this was the real reason for his visit.
“What did she say?”
“That the Maceonelli family is working through their Vegas enforcer for a big score in jewels from the exhibit. That it’ll be an inside job. That the jewel appraiser is in on it.”
“Damn.” Alec fisted his hands. Leave it to Lucy’s idiot brother to not only drag her through the mud, but expose her as well. “I take it that this woman is not the discreet type?”
Leo laughed. “Hardly.”
“What does she want?”
“Ten thousand dollars.”
“Give it to her.” Alec watched Rosa work her hands down to the curve of Lucy’s waist, and his dragon leaped under his skin. It was getting difficult to think past his consuming need for Lucy. “Put the woman in one of the suites until after the ceremony. Go ahead and comp everything, tell her she is our guest, but have someone gain her confidence so we can learn what she knows.”
“Okay, but what do you intend to do with Dr. De Luca after the ceremony?” Leo drummed his fingers against his pant leg.
“I don’t know.”
“She may not have a child—”
Alec exhaled in a rush, frustration beating a ratta-tat at his forehead. “I don’t know,” he repeated forcefully. “My dragon form will be rejuvenated whether she conceives or not.”
“You’re just going to send her back out with the humans?” Leo couldn’t hide the shock from his voice. “You are the bloody black dragon for God’s sake. You should at least care about continuing your family line.”
Alec put his hand on the glass door, ready to put physical space between him and his friend to end the conversation. “Tell no one about Lucy.”
“Wait.” Leo reached a hand to Alec’s shoulder and stopped him. “I’m happy for you, old friend. I’m sorry the situation does not let us rejoice as we should.”
“Later, we’ll celebrate. Now, we try to keep the peace.”
Alec strode into the atrium and motioned for Lilly Belle to follow him away from Rosa and Lucy.
“Jer’ol?” Lilly Belle asked. She was so tall that her eyes were on the same level as his.
“Lil, do you have hopes of finding a mate during the ceremony?” It was a private question, one he would not usually ask of any dragon.
Lilly Belle tensed but met his direct stare. “Why do you ask?”
“I don’t wish to interfere with your family line, but I want to assign you to guard Lucy.”
“The human?” Lilly Belle’s eyes widened, and she glanced over his shoulder at the snoozing Lucy. “She’s in danger?”
“Yes.” Alec hoped he would not need to give her more of an explanation.
“You ask a great deal of me.” Lilly Belle regarded him with a frown.
“Yes.”
Lilly Belle’s muscled shoulders curved inward, and she squeezed her biceps with her opposite fingers. “Why?”
Alec blew out an exhale. “She’s important to me.”
“A human?” Lilly Belle shook her head and looked disappointed. “I swore my allegiance to you with Tyren, and you know I’ll do this because you have asked it, but you are going to have to tell me what’s really going on.”
“She’s my mate.” The words dropped from Alec’s mouth like weighted balloons bursting on the tiles.
Lilly Belle’s mouth gaped open, and her eyebrows shot to her white-blonde bangs. “Your mate? That’s impossible.”
“And yet it is so.” Alec smiled, a furl of pleasure spreading through his chest. Despite the many troubling details, he had found his destined mate. He would not let her go or allow her to be hurt.
Lilly Belle closed her mouth and stared hard at him. After a moment, she seemed to come to a decision. “You’re in luck, Jer’ol.” Lilly Belle’s voice was definitive and unwavering. “I have no wish for a mate from this ceremony.”
Relief flooded Alec, even as he noted Lil’s unusual approach to the ceremony. Even though the female dragons were less desperate to find their mates to maintain their dragon forms, they usually wanted children.
“Thank you.” Alec put both hands on her shoulders, just as he had done when he had first asked for her allegiance. “I’ll see you rewarded for your service.” He squeezed her tense shoulders and released her.
“I would like to carry the old weapons to guard the woman,” Lilly Belle said.
“Whatever you wish. Just talk to Jane or Leo.” Alec smiled at the thought of Lil brandishing a broadsword through the casino. “Try not to scare the humans.”
“They hardly notice their surroundings anyway.” Lil shook her head in disgust.
“And thank the Great One for that.” Alec watched Rosa work on Lucy’s back. “Is there anything else you require?”
“No, Jer’ol.” Lil gave a short bow.
Alec walked up to Lucy’s massage table. “A moment, Rosa.” He placed a gentle hand on Lucy’s bare back. “Lucy.”
Lucy did not move, but gave a feminine snore.
“Lucy,” he said again.
Lucy raised her head and pushed her tangled auburn hair out of her face. “Alec?”
“I’ve got some business to attend to.” He kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you tonight for dinner.”
“Okay…” Lucy lay back down and closed her eyes. “Sounds good.”
Chapter Nine
Lucy’s mind floated on a fuzzy endorphin cloud. She lay supine in a leather massaging chair, her white robe cuddling her in its snuggly embrace. The very talented Rosa had already worked out every kink in her body. The kneading of the machine at her back was all gravy.
Cello and violins serenaded Pachelbel’s Canon in D from the atrium heavens, and Lucy sipped a fresh lime and mint mojito through a straw. She couldn’t remember ever being more relaxed. She was buffed, polished, and lubed. Hell, an oil change would have been less thorough than the work over by the “saints” who ran the Cathedral Spa.
Saints. In a Las Vegas cathedral. How appropriate. She grinned at the connection, and her smile cracked her dried face mask.
“You okay?” the facialist asked.
“Ahhh haa,” Lucy murmured.
“I’ll have that off in a minute. Then you can talk.”
No rush. Lucy loved the whole not-being-able-to-talk thing. She had not uttered a word since Alec had left. Just a few hums, and ah-has, an occasional nah. The Cathedral saints spoke the language-of-spa most fluently.
The facialist placed a heated towel over her supposedly gold-infused face mask. Who knew? Gold was for more than just doubloons these days. Her Ph.D course had really neglected the age-reversal qualities of the rare metal. She’d have to email the curriculum director. This time, her smile came easily under the softening mud.
The woman pulled off the towel and wiped away the mask and several layers of skin. Her face
and neck felt tight. After moisturizing the skin with magical lotions, the aesthetician blotted her face gently with a towel.
“There you go.” The woman gathered up her supplies and patted her hand. “You have time for one more service before lunch. Would you rather have hair and makeup or a mani pedi?”
Choices, choices. Lucy had never had her makeup professionally done, but her ragged cuticles and nails were a sight. Makeup or nails? The makeup came with hair, too. Done deal.
“Hair and makeup.”
The woman smiled. “Good choice.”
Lucy wondered if she would have said “bad choice” if she’d gone with nails.
“I’ll let Amanda know you’re ready for her.” The woman left, leaving Pachelbel in her wake.
Lucy closed her eyes, drifting back into the ether. Deep breaths filled her lungs with oxygen-infused air until a niggling feeling tightened her neck. Someone watched her. Her eyes popped open, and she looked around the room.
A man stood at the atrium door. It was Bruno, Gino’s henchman. How did he get there? He gestured his hand toward her, motioning for her to come into the hallway, but Lucy shook her head. What was he doing? They didn’t need her. She’d already dropped off her glasses with the print on them.
Bruno pulled a keycard out of his pocket and held it up to her before mouthing, “It doesn’t work.”
Mary, Joseph and Peter. They wanted her to get the new key card. “NO,” she mouthed. Bruno reached for the door handle.
“Excuse me!” Lucy’s under-used voice squeaked. Her mojito slipped from her hands and spilled on the floor.
Alec’s masseuse, Lilly Belle, pushed away from her post at the wall and walked to her.
At the door, Bruno looked pointedly at Lilly Belle and scowled. He pulled out his cell phone, turned on his heel, and left.
“Testa di merda.” Lucy thumped her head back on the pillow. Her heart raced in her chest like a jackhammer splitting concrete.
“What did you want?” the Viking-looking woman asked.
Luck of the Dragon (Entangled Covet) Page 8